Anisop

WHAT WE DO

Anisop Holdings is a medical technology company focused on antimicrobial surfaces to prevent peri-implant infections (PIIs). Applications include dental implants, breast implants, catheters, shunts, valves and all other indwelling medical devices that are susceptible to infection.

PII is the single largest unmet need in the 500 billion USD medical device industry. PIIs are the cause for between 2%-4% of implant failures resulting in billions of dollars of cost to the global health care system and significant burden and mortality to patients. The ongoing rise of antibiotic-resistant bacteria is of particular concern, meaning that effective solutions to prevent PIIs without antibiotics are urgently sought. Furthermore, antibiotic treatment regimens can be ineffective against PIIs due to the presence of biofilms, complex cellular colonies that resist conventional treatment. Surgical removal of the implants, with associated high cost and morbidity, is often the only solution.

Biomimicry may provide an answer to preventing biofilms on orthopaedic implants. It is known that the surfaces of certain species of plants and animals are highly antimicrobial. In particular, the wing of the dragonfly contains billions of nanopillars which mechanically kill a broad range of bacteria known to cause PIIs.

Anisop Holdings has acquired the rights to commercialise the nano-architecture of the dragonfly wing onto a variety of commercial surfaces, including medical implants. Proof of concept that such a surface can kill bacteria and prevent biofilms has already been achieved and a patent fully awarded in Australia and the EU (pending other jurisdictions). A key success factor in this technology is that there are no antibiotics or novel biomaterials introduced, which present major regulatory hurdles, rather the optimisation of the surface architecture at the nano-level is all that is required to kill bacteria, but leaves the host cells safely intact.

Antimicrobial Surface Technology Inspired by Nature

WHAT WE DO